


reservation mistakes

by Misila



Category: Free!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Post-S3E8, Pre-Relationship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 03:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15855009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misila/pseuds/Misila
Summary: “I owe you one, Haru.”Rin was… reallythere, and Haruka had thought about that a lot since his friend left but now  he was at a loss, not knowing what to do with the increasingly tight knot in the pit of his stomach.“Not really,” he replied when Rin drew back, closing the door as his friend set a coat, a bag and his obscenely big backpack down before taking his shoes off. He grabbed the bag and the coat before heading further inside, Rin hot in his heels. “What’s your problem with hotels, anyway?”





	reservation mistakes

 

 

 

 

Haruka was more asleep than awake when the doorbell rang.

He wasn’t in bed, though; the violent noise pulled up his whole body, knees knocking against the _chabudai_ when he jerked upright and tearing a pained grunt off his lips. Haruka glared at the spilt tea and the fallen glass, hands clumsy when he pushed his sketchbook aside— as he dragged his feet to the kitchen in search of a cloth, he reasoned there was something more important than his doodles demanding attention; but it wasn’t until the doorbell rang again that he remembered what it was.

Haruka crossed the kitchen in two strides, walked in the entryway; in those brief seconds he went through a mental list of who such a late visitor might be, dismissed every option he came up with. Even if Makoto had somehow lost his key again and his landlady wasn’t home (again), he had had plenty of time to arrive before midnight, which had already passed.

There was no point in wondering, though, so he pulled at the door without bothering to look through the peephole first.

As soon as he did, wakefulness slapped Nanase Haruka with the delicacy of a wrecking ball.

“Good… evening, I suppose,” the newcomer greeted, the smallest smile curving his lips.

Wide eyes looked at him up and down several times, gaze stopping at the red hair hidden under a familiar cap, at the way he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, more conscious about the stare scrutinising him than Haruka himself was.

A second passed, perhaps two or three, and at last Haruka recalled he had a tongue and could use it.

“Why are you here?”

Rin’s hand flew to the back of his neck, scratched at it as he looked down— and in the light of faraway streetlamps, he cheeks looked a bit pink.

“I messed my reservation up,” he admitted, “and there were no free rooms in the hotel… Can I stay the night? I’ll look for another place first thing tomorrow, but I’m dead from the flight.”

That wasn’t what Haruka had asked, but he nodded several times while Rin spoke, supposing he had sounded too harsh. “Come in,” he ordered, stepping aside to let Rin walk in.

“Thanks!”

At first, Haruka didn’t move when Rin leapt at him, strong arms encircling his shoulders. It was the second time he was hugged today, but unlike with Ikuya now his hands wandered around Rin’s waist, clung to fistfuls of his sweater. He closed his eyes, burrowed his nose in his friend’s shoulder— red locks and a low voice tickled his ear.

“I owe you one, Haru.”

Rin was… really _there_ , and Haruka had thought about that a lot since his friend left but now he was at a loss, not knowing what to do with the increasingly tight knot in the pit of his stomach.

“Not really,” he replied when Rin drew back, closing the door as his friend set a coat, a bag and his obscenely big backpack down before taking his shoes off. He grabbed the bag and the coat before heading further inside, Rin hot in his heels. “What’s your problem with hotels, anyway?”

“Shut up!” Now it was Haruka who smiled, in spite of the fist squeezing right behind his breastbone; Rin was way too easy to tease. “It was the website’s fault. At least they refunded the money…” But he trailed off as they crossed the kitchen. “Now that I think about it, I’ve never been here…”

Haruka put Rin’s belongings on the feet of his bed, turned in time to see his friend look around. It wasn’t the first time Rin visited the place where he lived, but it _was_ the first time Haruka was entirely responsible for its layout and he felt oddly judged, even though there was just curiosity in Rin’s gaze as it hopped around and paused on the desk, the glass door that led to the balcony and the still wet board of the _chabudai_.

“You left for Australia before I moved in,” Haruka reminded him, heading back towards the kitchen and earning an odd glance he couldn’t not link to the pang of uneasiness he was unable to shake off. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really, I just need a shower…” Rin lowered his backpack and took his cap off, stretched his arms above his head while Haruka wiped the table clean. “I startled you?”

“You woke me up.” Haruka rinsed the cloth, eventually settled on his bed and looked up at Rin.

Rin, who looked ready to fall asleep on his feet; he was staring at Haruka’s sketchbook, secluded in a corner of the _chabudai_ , probably not even seeing the barely outlined sunflowers.

“…Why are you here?”

Rin flinched, blinked as he looked around, momentarily disoriented.

“Uh… The hotel? I just told—…” But he trailed off when Haruka shook his head. “Ah. In Japan?” Haruka nodded, and the knot climbed to his throat. “It’s for the tournament. Gou said you qualified, too…”

“…Oh.”

Rin, damn him, noticed the slightest hesitation in Haruka’s voice. He arched a single eyebrow, went from bewildered to concerned in the blink of an eye.

“Didn’t you know?”

“You didn’t tell me,” Haruka shot back, nearly tasting the tension quickly solidifying the air of his tiny apartment. “You still never call,” he added, quietly, looking down; and for a second he was thirteen all over again and had no idea how to admit how much he had missed the person before him.

“I—” Rin huffed. “I’ve been busy. I texted Gou, must’ve forgotten to text you too…”

When Haruka glanced up his friend was stubbornly glaring at the curtains.

“The bathroom is the other door at the entrance,” Haruka eventually informed, looking at his clenched fingers, “and there are towels in the cabinet there.”

While the water steadily running on the other side of the wall was a good alternative to Rin’s painful discomfort, Haruka felt no relief as he folded the _chabudai_ to put it aside, or when he spread out the spare futon next to the bed. He dropped himself on the mattress, stared at the too bright light glaring down from the ceiling.

It was a mystery how he had managed to fall asleep before Rin arrived; in spite of the events he had swum in, the knot in his throat was too tight to allow him to rest— and Rin just had been in his apartment for less than half an hour.

But it wasn’t Rin’s fault. Not entirely, at least.

Haruka glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eye when he walked back in the main room, already wearing comfortable clothes to go to sleep.

(Loosey-kun lay disappointed in Haruka’s closet.)

“Listen, Haru.” Haruka watched as Rin threw his old pillow on the futon and sat down, tucking a wet lock behind his ear. “I get it if you… Ugh, even Gou’s been like that since I left.” He breathed in slowly. “I’m sorry I didn’t call, alright? I just had nothing interesting to say… and when I did was two days ago, so why bother.

“But I’m fine. If I needed to call, I would— I know better now. It’s not… I swear it’s not like the other time.”

Haruka sat up, crossing his legs.

“I’m glad.” He looked into Rin’s eyes; and they were bright and confident and everything they hadn’t been that night at the swim club two years prior, and the knot finally untightened enough to let him breathe. “I really am, Rin.”

Rin grinned. “You know I’m here to kick your ass, right?”

“You’re welcome to try.” Haruka switched the light off, lay down again. It was strange to hear another breathing in his apartment, but he couldn’t say he disliked it. “Rin?”

“What?”

“Don’t book any hotel room. It's not your thing.”

Rin’s laughter reached all the corners of the apartment. “Will you ever let me live that down?”

“When you call.” Haruka looked in his direction, but with the curtains drawn there was just barely enough light to make out his silhouette.

“…I guess that’s fair,” Rin hummed. For the longest time, so long Haruka finally started dozing off again, he kept quiet. “Haru?”

Haruka managed something that vaguely sounded like _hmm_.

“It’s good to be back.”

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Self-indulgent? Me? Nah...
> 
> No, but seriously, I wanted to write it as soon as I had the idea because it's the only thing season 3 has inspired me to do so far. And loved it.
> 
> What did you think about it? Could it happen next week? ~~I WISH~~ Tell me!
> 
> [BTW I'm @nenufair on both tumblr and twitter and you can hit me up anytime]


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